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Rasputin is now engaged with bandits D and E, the crossbowmen. As he steps up, ineffectually flailing his sword, he catches a glimpse of the dead bandit on the ground and notices a fuzzy brown tail extending out from his leather trousers.

"Taqi, no!" Pepito now takes notice of what's going on. He begins to hustle around the campfire, only to find the brothers are alongside him. "These badmans try to take lovely lady!" "We say we'd help her, maybe we do so now!" However, the brothers and Pepito aren't really watching each other, all try to round the campfire and the wildly drumming Phaedra at the same time, and end up tangling and tripping to the ground all in a heap.
Suddenly, you all hear a sharp whistle. It seems to have come from the woods across the stream. Alice turns abruptly as soon as it's heard. Ruth, Jeb, and Tanya can hear her say, "Lorilyn?" The whistle sounds again, closer this time. Alice peers into the trees, then exclaims "It is you!" She then dashes for the stream, leaps across it using some protruding rocks, and continues running right into the woods.
"What the...!" shouts Jeb, who'd been watching her. "Aw damn, first these clowns nab Tequila, and now our highest-payin' passenger runs off - with half her fare!"



Initiative:
>Ruth<   Tanya   Phaedra   Pepe   Bow Bandits   Sword Bandits   Rasputin
Escalation: +1

Ruth aims for the clear-shot target of Mr. D, tapping her wand until a speckle of frost grows over the tip. She uses Ray of Frost against him, 1d20+9 = 13. If the blue bolt makes contact, it'll freeze the poor bastard and supply 3d6+2 = 15 cold damage.

The bandit narrowly dodges the ray of frost.

Tanya looks startled as Tequila rushes by her to jump into the melee, and even more so when her cousin is grabbed by the bandits. "How were they able to-?" She shakes her head abruptly, and says, "Anyway, we have to help her! Rasputin, do your best!"
Tanya casts Bless on Rasputin, granting a +2 to attack rolls until the end of the encounter.

Initiative:
Ruth   Tanya   >Phaedra<  Pepe   Bow Bandits   Sword Bandits   Rasputin
Escalation: +1

Phaedra keeps the beat going as a number of unfortunate events unfold around her (1d20 = 14).  She unleashes another roar at the unfortunate Bandit D (1d20+6+1= 21 vs MD, for 1d6+5 = 10 thunder damage) and motivates Pepe to move again with a disappointed glare.

Pepe takes out another smoke ball and hurls it to the ground... (Shadow Walk: d20+4+1 = 7 vs MD) "I'm starting to think these weren't worth the 20 gp I paid for them." He forgoes the fancy tricks again and just tries to backstab the Bandit D distracted by Rasputin. (Melee Basic:  d20+6+1 = 19;  2d8+4+d7 = 21 damage).

Pepe drives the dagger into one of the bandits who is facing down Rasputin, slicing through a presumably important segment of his spine. Bandit D is slain!

Bandit E, still with an angry Rasputin in his grill, snarls loudly. "You're tougher than you look, but I just need to slow you down!" He drops his crossbow, then uses a quick action to abruptly yank his helmet off his head. You immediately see the reason for their helmets' peculiar shape. The bandit has a long, whiskered snout - not to mention two large, round, fuzzy ears. You've seen the type before: Wererats!
The bandit bares sharp teeth, and lunges into a bite at Rasputin's shoulder. However, the teeth don't manage to puncture Rasputin's tough armor. The bandit snarls again in obvious fury.

Meanwhile, the other two bandits behind him continue deeper back into the forest, moving surprisingly quickly with Tequila in tow. "Heeeelllllpppp!" comes her cry, growing more distant by the moment.



Escalation: +1
Status Effects: +1 attack for allies near Phaedra, +2 attack for Rasputin from Bless
Initiative:
Ruth   Tanya   Phaedra  Pepe   Bow Bandits   Sword Bandits   >Rasputin<

Rasputin backs up from the biting werefreak and puts a hand down grabbing his halfling friend by the scruff of his collar. "DEFENSIVE PLAN NUMBER 14! PEPE TOSSSSS" (Pepe Toss  1d20+9 = 28 vs AC)

With a astounding display of might Pepe disappears out of Rasputin's hand the moment he lets go. The sound of a thunderclap rings out as Pepe reappears impacting into the bowman holding the fair lady. Pepe magnificently kicks the man in the face but the absurd speed of the toss twists his tiny ankle a small bit as he lands a perfect pirouette STYLISH!(3d6 = 11   half damage to Pepe)

"Pepe fuck them up! Taco grant him sneak attacks!" Rasputin spins on his heel looking back at his other party members "Ruth tail that broad! Take Alakazam and Kabal with you!"He points at the dorfs arranging their fake as shit beards "  Phaedra to if you can talk her into it!" he then points at a wildly drumming madwoman tub-thumpin' away.  Finally he turns back to the Wererat with intent. 

"I'm gonna make a stew out of you."

Pepe flies several yards into the woods. The wererats, tails flopping along behind them, carry Tequila between them as they run as quickly as they can. Pepe soars in even quicker, though, and lands deftly on Bandit B. The bandit falls prone (and is Staggered).
Upon landing, Pepe notices immediately that the surrounding woods look quite a bit different than the clearing where the group made camp. The trees are significantly taller. Where stray shafts of moonlight fall into the woods, you see that many trees have a silvery color to their trunks and long, bluish-green leaves. Large fireflies hover in the air, providing further illumination.
Bandit C retains his grip on Tequila as best he can. "Shucks, nobody told us this job was gonna be so dangerous!" "Ratness save me!" hollers the bandit on the ground under Pepe's blade. Bandit C, slightly out of breath but uninjured, looks set to continue dragging Tequila along, but before he can take another step, there is a noise of several objects rushing through the air. Tequila screams as she quickly leaps away from the bandit, who falls to the ground, three arrows cleanly piercing his body.
"I wouldn't move or shout any more if I were you," comes a nearby voice. Someone approaches from just behind Pepe and Tequila, who have to spin around to see him. It's a tall man with long, glistening blond hair going down to his waist. He's dressed in shimmering gold silk, with a red cloak around his back. His ears are tremendously long and pointed, and his eyes are completely solid blue, no white at all - distinct features of the Eladrin. This Eladrin has a longbow drawn, arrow knocked, pointing straight at Pepe. He gives a jerk of his head, and five other figures step out from the cover of the trees. All of them wear dark green cloaks with the hoods pulled up, and carry bows as well. Two of them have arrows pointing at Tequila and Bandit B, while the other three look to have just fired theirs.
The Eladrin grins. "Well, look what the rats dragged in. They might know something," he says, nodding to his companions, "they're coming with us."
The path behind the man, whence Pepe soared in from, now appears to twist through the trees in a way that should have made his flight impossible, and obscures any vision of the caravan's camp.


Meanwhile, Ruth, Jeb, and Tanya turn their attention to the forest beyond the stream. A loud, sudden scream can be heard from within the woods - but it's quickly muffled. "Dagnabbit!" says Jeb, "I hate when our passengers rush off into trouble."

What does Ruth do?

Ruth reluctantly takes point, given she's with Jeb and Tanya rather than the usual meaty meatheads. She follows the direction of where the noise came from. Not sure what caused the screaming in the first place, she doesn't charge ahead full-speed. Instead, she goes at a reasonable pace, but keeps a wary eye out for possible territorial animals in the area 1d20+4(WIS) = 13.

You proceed into the woods at the point where Alice entered. The trees grow quite thick here, but there's still something of a path going deeper into the forest. After a few yards, a number of broken branches indicate that there's been some sort of disturbance.
(Wisdom check: 1d20+5 = 24)
"R-r-ruth, look...!" says Tanya, who has followed quietly behind you. (Jeb, it seems, has stayed behind at the campsite). Tanya points to the ground in front of you, and there lying in the path is Alice's bow. Tanya picks it up and examines it. "Look, the string's been cut cleanly... I'm pretty sure she was attacked."
The path ahead winds past a couple of very tall, slightly orange-tinted mushrooms. The air is getting very dense.

What does Phaedra do?

Phaedra gives Bandit E an earful of abuse (1d20+6+2 = 9 vs MD) but because she is so distracted by the splitting of the groups, she only gets out a few words "Your mother is a rat, well, I mean... augh..." and she lets her anthem come to a lame finish but bestows Rasputin a +2 to attack next round. She says, "Good luck, mustache," and sprints after Ruth and Tanya across the river.

"Was good song, sister!"
"Yes, gave us very merry dancing, even when we fell!" Call the twins as Phaedra rushes into the woods.
Tequila slowly puts her hands up. "Well, you sure know how to greet a lady," she says to the tall Eladrin. He and his cloaked companions keep their bows aimed.
What does Pepe do?

"Alright. You got us." Pepe puts his free hand up and extends the other towards one of the bowmen, holding his dagger by the blade. "Just take it easy, we don't want any trouble." [Bluff: d20+2+2+2 = 16]

[Ready action: Grab - Trigger: enemy enters melee range]

One of the cloaked men without an arrow knocked begins to slowly approach Pepe.
"Ah-hem," says the Eladrin, "why don't two of you take the little gnome, or whatever he is? I have a feeling he's a tricky one - not to mention there's a wild rat under his boot." The wounded wererat grumbles under his breath. "Y-yes sir," stammers another one of the men with an empty bow, and joins the first bowman in approaching Pepe.

"Tricky? No no no, you've got me all wrong. I've got nothing up my sleeve." Pepe raises his dagger hand and feigns flicking it behind him into the woods while slyly tucking it into his sleeve. [Sleight of hand:  d20+2+4 = 26]

He allows the elves to close in without putting up a fight.